By the Light of the Little Lantern
by Crystalline Temptress
Summary: Draco shows Hermione what he thinks of her with the help of a little origami lantern.


"By the Light of the Little Lantern"  
By the **Crystalline Temptress** (**C.T.** for short!)

**Disclaimer: **I don't own _Harry Potter_ and any of the characters therein; J.K. Rowling does. I'm not earning money from this either. Don't sue me.

**Author's Notes:** A question was posed by the lovely fellow Leather Librarian, **sweeter-lizz**, onboard the FAP SCUSA L&L thread: _Do Draco and Hermione do origami?_ And my two fellow Leather Librarians, **twin-v**, said: _Yeah, Draco's learned that art pretty well . . . Draco can also fold paper to look like lanterns, then he uses spells to make them light up from the inside._

That was what pretty much inspired this little cookie. :)

This is dedicated to all the shippers onboard the **S.S. Leather & Libraries**! I wish you (us!) all a Happy Anniversary, a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year:D

**01/16/05** – :D First off . . . this fic has been nominated in "The Good Things Come in Small Packages Award" category, which is the Best One-Shot/Ficlet category of the Dangerous Liaisons Awards (found here: http:geocities .com/ dangerousliaisons(underscore)awards/ (without the spaces in the URL))! Thank you to **Soror**** Ava** who nominated this fic:) You've made my day:D Also, thank you to all of you who've reviewed this fic! Lifesavers to you all:)

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Life for the Wizarding World had eased into something much more pleasant and enjoyable after Voldemort's defeat in the Second War. However, this was not true for all; the Hogwarts students, particularly those within the batch of Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ronald Weasley, _still_ found life rather hectic, although their first and foremost worries were now the N.E.W.T.'s and all other school-related matters rather than the threat of an imminent attack from the Dark Lord and his minions. The celebration in the wake of the War lasted for months, and it was with heavy hearts that the students returned to their academic business (although, of course, most of them were glad that the Dark Lord was _finally_ gone).

Hermione Granger was one of the rare few who returned to Hogwarts in truly high spirits. This was because she was pleased to discover that she had been appointed Head Girl for her last year at Hogwarts. Although she had had a lot of responsibilities during the Second War, she was not hesitant to take on the responsibilities of Head Girlship; in fact, she was looking forward to it. However, she _was_ mildly _dis_pleased to discover that Draco Malfoy had been appointed Head Boy. Only _mildly_ displeased, though, because she knew that after his mother's death in the Second War (by the hand of one of the Death Eaters, no less), he had turned to Dumbledore and had joined the fight against the forces of the Dark Lord. Nevertheless, his switch to the side of the Light had neither curbed his tongue nor smoothed his treatment towards Hermione and her friends despite her friendly overtures, and _that_ was what caused her existing, albeit somewhat mild displeasure.

It was much to her astonishment, then, that Draco responded to her overtures of friendship when they had returned to Hogwarts. She had expected him to brood and to remain brusque towards her, as he acted as such during the War. Hermione accepted his change in behavior with relief because she knew that good rapport between the two of them would make things easier during their time together, since the Head Boy and the Head Girl not only shared duties and responsibilities but also a common room, and their quarters were alongside one another in case of emergencies.

Before she knew it, the two of them settled into a pleasant routine together, and she grew to like Draco's company. He had a sarcastic wit that she found unique to him, and she was pleased to discover that he was very intelligent and very creative. She learned more about him during their free time, and was astounded to hear that he had fallen into despair after his mother's death—a despair like "_the darkness of an endless night_," according to him—and had remained in this despair even after the end of the War. He had never told her what had brought him out of it, though, and she didn't prod him, thinking that it was a sensitive issue.

Hermione would admit to herself during her unguarded moments that she found that he had grown handsome in the last year, but she'd laugh at herself afterwards and brush the thoughts away.

The months of their seventh year at Hogwarts whittled past, and before she knew it, it was almost the end of another year.

One calm December evening, as the Head Boy and the Head Girl sat before their fireplace in the common room, something caught Hermione's eye, engrossed as she was with her Advanced Arithmancy textbook. It was a sheaf of brightly colored, decorative oriental parchment—festive, yet elegant—lying on the table that she shared with Draco.

"What's that?" Hermione ventured, peering above the top of her book to see what he was up to.

"Origami," Draco muttered, deep in concentration as he eased and folded an ornate piece of Japanese parchment into what Hermione anticipated would soon be a lovely figure, as she was familiar with his skill. The paper he had was supremely beautiful; Hermione thought that it bore a great resemblance to the expensive silk brocade used for Japanese kimono. Ribbons of red and green twined and danced through the parchment, leading the eye on a delightful journey through gilt-tipped waters, silver trout, soaring kites, blooming flowers, and much more.

"What are you making?" Hermione asked, mesmerized despite herself as she watched Draco's hands fly across the paper with a dexterity she had only seen him employ when he made origami.

He glanced up briefly from his work, his fingers hovering above the unfinished figurine. "You'll see," he said with a ghost of a smile lingering upon his lips, silver-cerulean eyes agleam with something Hermione couldn't quite identify.

Hermione watched his progress with fascination. Folds and creases defined the piece of origami as it grew before her eyes. After a minute or two, she watched as Draco tucked the last bit of parchment into place. He had made a small paper lantern. It was about as tall as his thumb, and small enough to fit into his palm.

Draco held up his origami lantern to inspect it. Finally satisfied that everything was in place, he tapped his wand gently against the top of the figurine, and it began to glow with a soft, golden light from the inside.

"Oh . . . it's beautiful!" Hermione breathed, awed by the thought that one colorful piece of paper in the hands of Draco Malfoy could turn into something so wondrous.

"Thank you," he said with the same hint of a smile upon his lips. The light from the little lantern shone in his quicksilver-blue eyes, stealing Hermione's breath away.

Draco shifted slightly in his seat, breaking the spell. Hermione snapped out of her reverie, disconcerted to realize that she had been staring into Draco Malfoy's eyes like a lovesick girl.

"Perhaps . . . I should retire for the evening," Hermione said, hoping that he wouldn't notice the blush that rose to her cheeks—and if he did, she sincerely hoped that he would attribute the flush to the fire crackling merrily in the hearth before them. She cursed herself inwardly for having another one of her "unguarded moments"—in his presence, no less.

"Good night," she said primly, rising from her seat. And, feeling that she should compliment him one more time, she said earnestly, "And that _is_ a lovely lantern." With that, she turned to her quarters.

"Actually," he said, just as she had taken a few steps in the direction of her room, "I made it for you."

Hermione spun around, surprised by his words. "For me?" she repeated incredulously.

Draco gave her a nod. He also rose from his armchair and strode towards her until he stood before her, towering head and shoulders above her. The flames from the fireplace only cast him into shadow, and the scant light by which she could see his face was from the tiny lantern still carefully ensconced in his hands.

"Why?" she asked, raising both eyebrows. He was so close . . . close enough for Hermione to discover that he smelled of sandalwood tinted with mint . . .

He shrugged. "Consider it a Christmas present," he drawled.

"Thank you," Hermione said earnestly, truly pleased with the tiny gift.

Draco's pale eyes glittered faintly. "It's like you."

She opened her mouth to ask what he meant, but Draco interrupted her. "It's strange how one seemingly frail, little lantern can bring light to the darkness of an endless night."

Hermione felt the rush of realization streak through her veins, and she stared at him in silence, wanting to speak, wanting to confirm and affirm, but finding no words.

He took her palm and carefully tipped the paper lantern onto her hand.

"Happy Christmas, Hermione." And with that, he walked into his quarters.

Hermione stared at the origami figure in her hands. It continued to glow softly. She smiled. She was fairly certain that it would keep glowing for a _long_ time.

She'd make sure of it.

-

**Author's Notes: **Hope you liked it:)

I'm very much in love with origami-talented!Draco; I grew up making origami figures myself . . . though I think that I was much more content to simply peruse the my origami books and to see pictures of the finished figures. :) Anyway, I do love origami; I think that there's something absolutely fantastic and genius about being able to make many different things like frogs, cats, dogs, airplanes, boats, flowers, and what have you out of one piece of paper. I have a tiny paper crane sitting on my desk now, and it's made out of the lovely Japanese origami paper I assume Draco to have in this vignette (though I gave him a different pattern). Origami paper looks something like this: http:www. durwinrice .com/ Papers/ p147.jpg (without the spaces in the URL) (although I imagined that the predominant color of Draco's origami would be green). I imagine his lantern to look like this: http:www. origami. org. hk/ images/ lantern5.gif (without the spaces in the URL). This design would be nice as well, though: http:www. origami .org .hk/ images/ lantern2. gif (without the spaces in the URL).


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